“I wake up. Immediately I have to figure out who I am.” A is a 16-year-old soul, waking up every day in a different body. It has to acclimate to a new situation, a new family, and a new school, and has gotten used to this routine of a confusing life with no real home. However, its world is changed when the beautiful, kind and complex Rhiannon enters the picture. Every Day by New York Times bestselling author David Levithan offers an inspiring new tale of empathy, love and what it truly means to be alive.
A exists within the bodies of teenagers from different genders, races, socio-economic status’, relationships and health difficulties, a thought-provoking and, at times, harrowing reality. Every time A wakes up each day possessing only the physical characteristics of the person it is in, not their thoughts or memories unless it makes the conscious decision to access them. There is no better premise to understand the situations of different people and teach an important lesson in empathy.
A finds itself in the body of Justin, the abusive boyfriend of Rhiannon, and falls in love with her in their 24-hours together. The impossibility of its situation leaves no logical future for their love however, A manages to break its one rule and tell her its secret. A curious boy is also determined to uncover its secret after he believes that A is the devil that “possessed” him. Every Day is the beautiful, gut-wrenching and stunningly honest story of a soul trying to understand how to exist and who to trust in an impossibly difficult situation.
The flawed characters, beautiful voice and intense tale, will transcend the confines of the covers into real life. “I’m never going to figure it out, any more than a normal person will figure out his or her own existence. After a while, you have to be at peace with the fact that you simply are. There is no way to know why,” Levithan writes. The poetic and awe-inspiring novel is a reminder that love and being alive exists outside the confines of physical appearance.